A New Jersey school bus driver was charged Monday after allegedly leaving a 4-year-old special needs student unaccompanied on a parked bus for more than two hours.
The alleged incident occurred on July 10 when staff at Valley View Elementary School in Towaco noticed the student hadn’t arrived to school, according to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office. Staff contacted the parents, who confirmed the child had boarded the bus that morning.
The child was subsequently found on the school bus, parked in the bus yard, where they’d been left unsupervised for two and a half hours. The student had low blood pressure and an elevated heart rate and was taken to the hospital.
Prosecutors allege that after parking, the driver did not check the bus in accordance with state statute and company policy.
Bus driver Frank J. Blair, 61, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. He was released from custody on the condition that he have no supervision of children.
Montville Township Public Schools said Blair was a contractor not a district employee.
Blair’s arrest comes less than a week after two children were hit by school buses in Bergen County in separate incidents.
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